Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Mr Kang

*

“If you don’t mind, sir, I’ll wait out in the lobby for my friend.”

“If he doesn’t show up, I’ll find my own way out. I don’t have much time today. Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude.”

Kang quickly got up and clutched Fred’s arm cordially. “Okay, okay! Please sit down. I’m very sorry.” Fred complied.

“I have talked to Mr Go. He says you are a good man.”

The room was quiet for a few seconds and Fred felt more comfortable.

“When did you talk to Mr Go? I just went to Jiri Mountain with him yesterday.”

“He called me this morning from his parents’ house. He mentioned that you really enjoy the mountains.”

Fred nodded and raised his eyebrows. “It’s good to hear that he got home safely.”

“Yes, it took him 12 hours but he is best driver. But anyway Mr Fred, I don’t want to give you a bad feeling because of today.”

“You actually thought I was a spy for Miss No?”

Kang remained poker-faced. “She is capable of anything. I feel sorry for my friend Mr Go and I will stick by him until the end.” He sunk into reflection.

Fred again noticed the portrait on Kang’s desk.

“Oh yeah.” Kang snapped out of his daze. “My father.”

He was an elderly man with a strikingly long, pure white beard.

In this typical head and upper torso shot, the distinguished senior was wearing stark white traditional Korean clothing, akin to the upper half of a Tae Kwon Do robe.

“My father died a few years ago. For many years he owned a piece of land where Hyundai Motors wanted to build their car factory.

“He held out for a long time. He was harassed and even assaulted a few times by the developers’ goons but he was a very resilient man. He had an iron will.

“During the Korean War, he was held captive in a Chinese POW camp. It was very terrible… but he survived. I don’t know how he did it.”

Fred roused him out of it. “So, what happened? How did he become wealthy?”

“Anyway, long after that when he came back to the Ulsan area following the Korean War, he returned to his small property in Pang-o-jin.”

“That’s where Hyundai is now.”

“I grew up in a shack there mostly with my mom. I was never too close to my dad.”

“He used to have bad dreams and wouldn’t sleep with us. He would sleep down the block on the corner of his property.”

“He had a gazebo-type structure there – a traditional Korean shelter.”

Kang chuckled. “Every morning neighbors would see him walking back to our house for breakfast carrying a jar filled with – how you say – number one?”

“There was no outhouse on his little corner.”

“Anyway, in the end he sold the whole property and became very rich. But he was too old to enjoy his money and died shortly after.”

“My mother became rich and I have always been very comfortable. So … I have the means to help Mr Go.”

Fred felt camaraderie and rapport with Kang but couldn’t help worrying about the time.

The clock was ticking down – 20 minutes – and he hadn’t even seen Thomas yet.

* Will Fred get to see Thomas? *

*

Tomorrow: Will Fred actually get to see Thomas or will he get bogged down in Korean formalities? And then … will he actually get to say his piece?????